Hero mum fighting for life tells her story

A mum diagnosed with cancer last August and given a year to live tells a heartbreaking story in a documentary being aired tomorrow night.

“If my story stops just one other person dropping their life assurance or highlights just how cutbacks are affecting our health service, then I’ll be happy if that’s part of the legacy I leave behind.”

The stark words come from Jackie Crowe, aged 49. Two years prior to hearing the shocking news of her health condition, the mother of two was made redundant which left her in a difficult financial situation.

She fell behind with her mortgage, and in an attempt to meet the payments, Jackie stopped paying her life assurance policy— unaware of the uncertain future she would be left with due to her illness.

Her story was highlighted in the Irish Examiner in early April. She been told by a bank if she dies, her €110,000 mortgage would not be paid off, as she had been in arrears on her mortgage protection policy.

After losing her job, she initially managed to keep her mortgage protection policy payments up, but later stopped paying.

A new TV documentary charts Jackie’s emotional journey and struggle to stay alive to see daughter Rebecca, 19, through college.

The programme documents her seven-week wait to begin chemotherapy and highlights the impact cutbacks are having on the health service.

Jackie, from Ballyheigue, Co Kerry, feels worsening economic conditions have resulted in a lack of proper care in the health service and describes the surreal moment when she learned she had cancer.

“The day I was diagnosed, the doctor came in and told me I had three tumours — he could have been a dentist telling me I needed three fillings,” she recalled.

The programme also portrays the feelings of utter helplessness in people when a loved one is diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Jackie tells how she found herself pulling back from those nearest to her “because the hurt in their eyes reminds me that I’m dying. However, mainly I’m doing it because they have been through so much, too much, this last few years.”

Produced by Lydia Murphy and reporter Francis Fitzgibbon for TV3, Jackie’s Story: My Life, My Legacy, airs tomorrow at 9pm.